First Night
by Elise Marie
Summary: Ron and Hermione are both trying to deal with her petrification. Second in my “First” series, but you don't have to have read it to read this.


Title: First Night

Book: Page 250 of Chamber of Secrets, one night after the Great Feast.

Spoilers: Pretty much all of this book, as it's set at the end!

Warnings: None.

Rating: T/PG-13.

Category: Friendship.

Summary: Ron and Hermione are both trying to deal with her petrification. Second in my "First" series.

Disclaimer: All characters and the universe they exist in belong to J.K Rowling and her publishers.

Author's Notes: Second in my "First" series, but you don't need to have read the other one for this to make sense. I'm writing them once I finish reading a book – I'm very new to HP!

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Hermione Granger stared at the flickering fire in front of her, watching it crackle and spit. She was sitting snugly on the far left hand side of the Gryffindor common room sofa. Her legs were curled up to her right, reaching slightly onto the middle cushion, with her duvet covering her and she was leaning on her left arm slightly. Her thoughts were on the past year of school; her second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She had missed most of it, though, having been petrified just after Easter by a Basilisk that had been under the control of Ginny Weasley/Tom Riddle/He Who Must Not be Named. On the one hand, Hermione felt like she had abandoned her friends when they had most needed her, although they had seemed to cope perfectly fine without her and had solved everything, saving the magical day. So much for her being the brains of the group, she thought sadly. And on the other hand, Hermione felt as though there were a huge chunk of her life that had passed her by and that she could not recapture. Well, a few months seemed like a huge chunk of her life, but then she was only thirteen years old. She reached over slightly and picked up her cup of hot chocolate. She brought the cup to her mouth and pursed her lips around the rim. It was still too hot to drink, so instead the young witch blew over the surface of the drink. Her attention was still so wrapped up with the playful flames in front of her, that she did not hear the footsteps behind her or the flame-haired boy who appeared at the other end of the sofa.

"Hermione?" Ron Weasley questioned. On his approach down from the second year boys' dormitory he had not seen that anyone was sitting downstairs for Hermione was slouched so low. He was kind of glad that she was here and that he would not be on his own. Being alone was not what he wanted right now and the other boys in his dorm were fast asleep already, leaving him wide awake and staring at the ceiling above his bed. Everyone else was tired out from the night before and the great feast. Ron, however, was not.

Hermione jumped at the sound of Ron's voice, her arm and hand flinching slightly so that a small amount of the hot chocolate burnt her lip. "Ow," she mumbled, putting the cup down on the floor and rubbing her lip.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he apologised. She moved her legs slightly, closer to herself, indicating that he could sit down on the other side of the sofa. He moved some of the extra folds of her duvet and sat down. "What are you doing up?"

She shrugged, still rubbing her lip. "Couldn't sleep." At least she had not lied and said that she was not tired. The truth was that she was very tired. After last night and being up pretty much all of it, she was incredibly tired. So was the whole school which was why everyone had gone to bed so early. She, however, could not sleep. Or maybe it was more that she did not want to go to sleep. Whether it was could not or did not, the reasons were the thoughts running through her brain. "You?"

It was his turn to shrug. "Me neither." There was a long pause as both second year Gryffindor's studied the fire intensely as if hypnotised by the flames and their movements. "How come you're not exhausted from last night?"

She looked down at her lap and pulled the duvet up around her a bit more as if by wrapping herself tighter would help protect or comfort her. "I feel like I've missed however much of this year being petrified, sleep seems like the last thing that I want to do." He nodded in understanding. "How about you?" she asked. "You were up all night, too and you've been very busy the past few days."

That was very true. His worry for his younger sister and Hermione herself over recent days and weeks had taken their toll on him, yet he still did not want to go to sleep. "Yeah," he admitted. "I've been having problems sleeping for a while."

She tore her gaze from the fire and looked at him; he was still hypnotised by the fire. "How come?" she asked and then blushed. "I mean, if it's not too personal. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry." They both fell into a comfortable silence for a few minutes, Hermione's gaze returning to the fire.

"I haven't been sleeping well for a while now," he whispered. He said it so quietly he was unsure if she had heard him, he had doubts that he had actually finally said it out loud. It was the first time he had told anyone about it. He had not even told Harry or his brothers.

Hermione picked up her hot chocolate again and took a sip. She then passed it to him, offering him a share. He took the cup and smiled. His voice had been incredibly quiet, but she had just about heard him over the crackling noises from the fire. He took a mouthful and passed the cup back to her. "Why?" Her voice matched his.

"If it's not giant spiders chasing me in my dreams, or worries that there's something wrong with Ginny." He paused. "Which there was. Or it's..." He assumed that it had been obvious to his friends that Ginny had been worrying him, and that to anyone that knew him, and about his fear of spiders, would know they were plaguing him. No one would know how much he had been worried for Hermione, he believed.

"What?" she asked when after a few moments he did not complete his train of thought. She took another mouthful of her drink and then passed it to him again.

He took the cup and held it in his hands, leaning forward and resting his elbows and lower arms on his knees. "Or it's every time that I close my eyes, I see you. Petrified." He could feel the heat from the fire more intensely on his reddened face now. Whether the increase in blood flow to his cheeks was from the heat or admitting that he was scared for Hermione, neither were sure. She continued to watch him, his face in profile, as the light flickered over him and he continued speaking. "When Harry and I were taken to see you in the hospital wing," he paused. "From that moment on, all I could see when I tried to sleep was your face, eyes wide open, unmoving. Like a statue you were."

She leant over and placed a comforting hand on his arm. "I'm okay now." He turned to her, smiled slightly and passed her the drink back. He leant back in his seat and she followed suit, returning to her original position and taking a mouthful of her drink.

He nodded, watching the fire again. "Doesn't stop me still seeing you like that though." His face still felt as if it were burning. "I'm glad that you're awake again. Hogwarts isn't the same without you."

She smiled at this. "I know, how else would you remember to get your homework done on time? You wouldn't even remember to do your homework."

"Bloody hell, Hermione!" Ron playfully swatted her across the sofa. "You've only been back in the land of the living for just over a day and already you're on about school and work. You actually are disappointed that the exams have been cancelled, aren't you?"

She smiled at his playful banter and then started to fidget with the cup in her hands. "Yeah, but maybe studying for them would take my mind off of everything and I wouldn't be so afraid to sleep." She had finally admitted what had been plaguing her since before everyone else had gone to bed. She had quietly gone up to her dormitory once everyone else had fallen asleep and retrieved her duvet before settling downstairs. She had known that had she gone upstairs to bed, she would have quickly succumbed to sleep and the dreams that would follow. She had not wanted that. She had not wanted to be alone; even in a room full of girls. They probably had not even noticed her absence over the past few months.

Now it was Ron's turn to study her. She was still turning the cup around between her two hands, hypnotised once more by the dancing flames. He could not describe the expression on her face as it seemed like a mixture between fear and melancholy. Ron was very glad that it was not the expression she had suffered with whilst petrified; the one that haunted his closed eyes' vision. "Why are you so afraid to sleep?"

She looked down into her cup which by now was less than half full of the hot chocolate she had earlier obtained. Hermione studied the contents of the cup very carefully, as if she could read her future within any chocolate powder remaining in the bottom or along the sides. "I feel like I've lost half of this year, that I have slept through it." She paused for a long time, knowing that Ron's eyes were on her and that he was interested in what she had to say, he was just not going to push her. "I'm afraid of sleeping too long again, of not waking up in the morning." She drank down the remainder of her drink and smiled sadly as if there were no hope for her.

He took the cup out of her hands and placed it on the floor by his edge of the sofa. Ron then gently lifted her feet slightly and placed them into his lap and spread the extra folds of her duvet over him, although it did not quite reach his feet which were on the floor. But at least he had slippers on to keep them warm. And the fire of course. "Lean your head down on the sofa and go to sleep," he commanded with a gentleness he rarely expressed. "I'll stay with you." He then placed a gentle hand on her sock covered ankles which were on his thighs and rearranged the duvet on top of them.

She nestled down in to the arm of the sofa and watched the fire for a few more moments as her eyelids started to feel heavy. "Are you going to sleep too?" Both of them relaxed with the slight contact between them; a sign that they were not alone and that nothing could happen to either of them.

Ron's own eyelids were starting to get heavy and he tried, but failed, to nod his head. "Yeah," he mumbled. "Together, we'll be fine." Very quickly after his comforting words, his hand increased its weight on her ankles and feet and his head lolled slightly to one side. Their breathing soon got deeper and longer with an occasional slight snore escaping their mouths. Both were soon in a very deep sleep which was not plagued with anything of a troublesome nature, only happy thoughts about sweets and fields; of reading and Quidditch; of friends and family; of smiles and laughter. That was until a few hours later when the Weasley twins awoke very early after their early night and went downstairs with the thought of attempting more mischief before term ended. Instead they were greeted by the sight of their youngest brother and his best friend both lying underneath the same duvet, albeit at opposite ends of the common room sofa, fast asleep. Standing behind the sofa, Fred and George looked at each other with a knowing look in their eyes. They each nodded and winked and walked up to right behind the sofa, bending down so just their heads peered over the top. Fred leaned slightly towards Hermione whilst George leaned towards Ron and simultaneously they spoke: "Morning, love-birds." Hermione jumped awake in shock, red embarrassment creeping up her neck and cheeks as she saw all the three Weasley's around her. She made her excuses and hurried off upstairs to get dressed and washed. She was mortified that the twins had seen her not only in the morning and only half awake but also that all three had seen her in her pyjamas. Ron, meanwhile, a lot more used to his annoying older brothers and their mischief, merely wriggled a bit, turned his head to the other side and continued sleeping. The twins shook their heads and left him to it, knowing that young Ron liked his sleep. Later that day, after Ron had awoken to the noise of the other second year Gryffindor boys coming downstairs, he went to the girls' dormitory to return Hermione's duvet. As he did so, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil passed him on the stairs gossiping about how Hermione's bed had not been slept in all night long.

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The End


End file.
